Can a movie be spellbinding and mystifying at the same time? The evidence, from arthouse classics such as “Last Year at Marienbad” to multiplex hits including “The Matrix” and “Inception,” would seem to be a resounding “yes.”
Therefore, there should be an audience — an adventurous one, sure, but an audience — for Abbas Kiarostami’s “Certified Copy,” a tantalizing talkfest. This movie is certainly confounding, but quite beautiful as well.
In Tuscany, a British academic named James Miller (played by William Shimell) is giving a talk at a signing for his new book. In his introductory statement, which manages to convey his appeal and his snobbishness, he describes his book’s theory that a copy of a great work of art might be as valid as the original.
Shortly after, he gets together with a French woman — she doesn’t seem to have a name — for a visit, a car ride through the countryside and who knows what else. It’s a little hard to read her; she says she finds his book annoying, but buys six copies.
She is played by Juliette Binoche, who presents a series of rapid-fire, sometimes inexplicable mood swings during the course of an afternoon. A lot of things shift during their rambling talk, actually.
And this is where “Certified Copy” goes into mysterious territory. Following the stray assumption by a cafe owner that these two people are married, the man and woman appear to seamlessly change into something else: Have these two met before? Is he just a “copy” of a man she was married to? Could it be that they actually are married, possibly with a child? Or are they participating in some kind of curious play-acting?
Those questions have already inspired a certain amount of online tea-leaf reading. What does it all mean, anyway? But I think figuring out the puzzle is the wrong way to watch “Certified Copy.”
Instead of searching for clues about what the reality is, watch this movie as an essay about men and women, seen at different stages of knowing each other. They just happen to be played by the same two actors.
Kiarostami, the elder statesman of Iranian film directors (“Taste of Cherry”), has never worked outside Iran (nor with a movie star) before. The change suits him just fine. The film is both gorgeous to look at and a pleasure to think about.
Binoche is unpredictable and alive, which is what we expect from the star of “Cache.” We probably don’t expect anything from William Shimell, an opera baritone new to the movie-acting game, but he’s terrific.
This is not a film to tell a good story or blow things up. Yet it is a roller-coaster. Hop on, and prepare to be pleasantly perplexed.
“Certified Copy”
A man and woman ramble and talk across an afternoon in Tuscany, but their actual identities seem to shift in the course of the day. If a movie can be spellbinding and mystifying at the same time, Abbas Kiarostami’s tantalizing film (which may really be an essay about men and women, seen at different stages of a relationship) absolutely qualifies. Juliette Binoche stars. In French, Italian and English, with English subtitles.
Rated: Not rated; probably PG-13 for language.
Showing: Harvard Exit.
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